Special Abilties and Defensive Systems
Mechassault Defensive and Special Systems Jump-Jets *Jump-Jets, or "Jet Packs", use high-powered heat-based thrusters to send BattleMechs of considerable weight or mass flying in the air. The main purpose for Jump-Jets is to give a mobility advantage in combat. Due to the unsophisticated nature of the technology, many Mechs have the availability of Jump-Jets. Note: any Mech weighing 70 tonnes or more is unable to equip itself with Jump-Jets. Jump-Jets can keep a user in flight ranging from a few seconds in the case of the Elemental BattleArmor, and up to 10 seconds if not more in the case of the Catapult Heavy BattleMech. Jump-Jets are useful defensive countermeasures for evading any enemy targetting-based weapon systems. Null Signature *Null Signature, or "Null Sig" for short, is only available to a limited amount of specialized stealth Mechs. It temporarily renders the user Mech's hull invisible. The Null Signature power will drain faster than normal if the mech is moving as opposed to being immoblized. Mechs traversing at top speeds are slighly visible to the naked eye. Weapons fire and increased heat in the Mech's hull will also render the Mech partially visable. Target Jamming *Target Jamming stops any weapons fire from locking on to the Mech. Crossbow Missiles, Javelin Missiles, PPC's, Heavy Lasers, Gauss Cannons, and Auto-Cannons cannot lock onto the Mech if Target Jamming is activated. Mechs with Target Jamming activated will flash or glow in an unusual manner. Anti-Missile System *The Anti-Missile System, or "AMS", is a defensive countermeasure used to lure incoming targetting-based missiles away from the user mech. A flare is engaged that attracts all enemy targetting-based missiles fired at the user Mech. Energy Shield *Only seen on the Ragnarok and Ymir Mechs, the experimental energy shield successfully protects the user Mech from all forms of incoming damage. Its visual description is a large purple bubble-like layer that surrounds the Mech. Once activated, due to the substantial amount of energy required to power the shield, the shield itself can only last activated for one full second. To balance this, the shield recharges very quickly. Mech pilots must time their enemies' shots to make effective use of the energy shield in combat. Mechassault 2: Lone Wolf Defensive and Special Systems Alpha Strike *A high-powered experimental weapon system, the Alpha Strike is known for its devestating ability to make BattleMechs fall to their death in one shot on the battlefield. Note: only specialized Assault Mechs are capable of firing Alpha Strikes. While most BattleMech special systems are defensive, Alpha Strike is offensive. Unlike most systems which can be activated at any time provided there is sufficient power in the Mech, Alpha Strike requires a tremendous amount of energy from its weapon systems to be activated. To accumilate this energy, the BattleMech must upgrade all of its weapon systems to Level 3. In the warzone, Alpha Strike's biggest disadvantage is the time it takes to charge to fire and the amount of energy required to engage its systems. Firing Alpha Strike overheats the Mech's weapon systems and converts all weapon classes back to Level 1. Alpha Strike does not fall under any weapon category including Ballistic, Energy, nor Missile. Climbing Claw *Equipped on the Elemental and BattleArmor, the Climbing Claw allows both of the said suits to climb buildings and other man-made structures. The Claw on the BattleArmor allows the user to latch onto a V-TOL which in turn grants the BattleArmor a Level 4 Energy weapon upgrade. This upgrade turns the Pulse Laser blue, dissipates all heat generation from weapons fire, increases the rate of fire of the Pulse Laser to exceed the rate of fire to that of the Level 3 upgrade and does increased damage. The BattleArmor claw also allows attachment to friendly Mechs to tag a ride into battle and allows attachment to enemy Mechs to achieve a "Neuro-Hack". The Neuro-Hack feature on the BattleArmor lets the user hack into an enemy Mech and force the enemy to eject leaving the Mech without a pilot and for the taking. Reflective Armor Shielding *Reflective Armor Shielding utilizes "excited particles" that are in constant motion to engulf and protect the BattleMech from incoming Energy-based weaponry damage only. Statistically, 70% of the damage recieved by Energy-based weapons is blocked. Since the particles in the shielding are always on the move, the slightest piece of matter, including energy, is always stripped away. The technology utilized in Reflective Armor Shielding is unfortunetly useless against Ballistic weapons and Missile weapons considering anything other than Energy relies on relative mass to penetrate. Reactive Armor Shielding *As the popularity of the use of BattleMechs increased across the galaxy, so did a defense against them. That is why Reactive Armor Shielding was introduced. Since the majority of BattleMechs rely on Ballistic weapon systems in combat, Ballistic Defense systems are useful. Reactive Armor Shielding deploys a thin layer of mass-increasing particles. The danger from Ballistic weapon systems originates from three things - Potential and Kinetic Energy, Round Velocity and Mass. The heavier the round or shell fired at an opposing BattleMech, the more the damage. The same law applies when the round or shell is fired at faster velocities. Since Ballistic weapons utilize lightweight ammunition, Reactive Armor proves useful because it increases the mass of incoming fired ammunition effectively protecting the user Mech. Since Energy-based weaponry does not rely on mass and velocity and Missile-based weaponry is simply too heavy for Reactive Armor, this defensive countermeasure is ineffective against the two said. Advanced AMS *Since energy shielding designed to remove incoming enemy Missile fire is simply too expensive and unpractical, an advanced form of AMS was invented. As opposed to being a flare shot, the Advanced Anti-Missile-System, or "AMS", is a point-defence system. Once activated, computers in the BattleMech automatically calculate the velocity and trajectory of all incoming missiles and the AMS destroys the missiles. Allied Mechs are capable of being shielding by a user Mech's AMS provided that Allied Mechs are in close proximity to the user Mech. Enhanced Armor Shielding *Advanced engineers designed an energy shield that combines the usefulness of the AMS, Reactive Shield, and Reflective shield all in one. Enhanced Armor Shielding, or "EAS", uses high-temperature excited particles to form a "heat shield" or "plasma shield" around the user Mech successfully protecting it from all forms of incoming damage. All damage is reduced to 30% of its original calculation. The major drawback to the EAS is that it takes a long time to recharge for later use on the battlefield due to the amount of power required to engage the shields. Only the Ragnarok and Ymir Mechs are known to have this advanced technology in their possession.